Study evaluates treating mothers with ADHD to improve outcomes in kids
"About 25 percent of the time, when a child has ADHD, there's a parent that has ADHD," said Mark Stein, UIC professor of pediatrics and psychiatry and principal i nvestigator of the study. "We realize this is a weakness in our service delivery models, because often clinicians focus on just treating the child and ignore the fact that another family member has ADHD." Two treatments are very effective for children with ADHD: behavior modification and stimulant medication. Both require "a very dedicated, organized person, which, if you have ADHD, that's going to be a challenge for you," said Stein, who noted that treatment is often administered by the mother, and that women are less likely to have their ADHD identified. The Treating Mothers First Study will identify mothers of children between ages 4 and 8 with behavior problems who are at risk for ADHD -- and evaluate both the mother and child. Mothers with ADHD will receive either a long-acti...